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Tecumseh/Transcript
Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby. A boy, Tim, is in his room, working on his desktop computer. A robot, Moby, barges into Tim's room, dressed as a colonial-era British officer. He holds out an official document labelled "Treaty of Queens Boulevard", while two robot-soldiers stand behind him. Tim takes the document and examines it. MOBY: Beep. TIM: A treaty? What? He reads the treaty aloud. TIM: The Tim Nation hereby agrees to lawfully cede its bedroom, its computer, and its wireless router to the government of the United Robots of America? Tim looks at Moby. TIM: You know, if you wanted to check your e-mail, you could have just asked. MOBY: Beep. Tim gets up from his computer and stands aside. Moby sits and takes over the computer. He accesses his e-mail account. Tim reads from a typed e-mail. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, I'd like to know more about Tecumseh. Can you help me? From, Ms. Sweeney. TIM: Sure. Tecumseh was a Shawnee warrior and statesman who lived from 1768 to 1813. An image shows Tecumseh. He is wearing a dress uniform. TIM: The Shawnee are an American Indian nation who now live in Oklahoma. Before 1800, though, they lived throughout the eastern United States. Tecumseh lived in Ohio and Indiana, and he became famous for organizing Indians to fight against the United States. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, Indians and white Americans fought each other in that region for decades. Tecumseh's own father was killed in battle when he was just 7. And as a kid, his village was repeatedly attacked by American soldiers. An image shows a line of 18th Century United States soldiers. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, after the Revolution, the American government opened Ohio to settlers. An animation shows a small town appearing on the Ohio prairie. TIM: The Indians who lived there weren't too thrilled about this. So several tribes formed a confederacy, or alliance, and launched a war against the United States. Tecumseh fought in some of the battles and gained a reputation as a fierce warrior. An image shows Tecumseh leading other American Indians in battle. TIM: The U.S. won the war, though, and forced Ohio's Indians to move west to Indiana. But Tecumseh refused to go quietly. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, in 1805, Tecumseh's younger brother began having visions. An image shows Tecumseh's younger brother. TIM: He soon became known as The Prophet, and launched a religious revival. He preached that white Americans were evil, and he urged all Indians to reject their customs and way of life. If they did so, he said God would give them their land back. The Prophet started gaining followers, and Tecumseh saw an opportunity. He realized that if he could unify all the tribes of the region into a new confederacy, he had a good shot at preventing future settlement. So he began traveling and spreading the message to as many Indian nations as he could visit. An image shows Tecumseh speaking to an Indian group. TIM: Soon, more than 1,000 followers were living in Prophetstown, an Indiana settlement founded by Tecumseh and his brother! A map shows the location of Prophetstown in the present-day state of Indiana. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Things came to a head when William Henry Harrison, the governor of the Indiana territory, bought a huge tract of land from the Miami Indians. Tecumseh confronted Harrison at the governor's estate and told him that the treaty was meaningless. The land belonged to all Indians, he said, and no individual tribe had the right to sell it. An image shows Tecumseh confronting Harrison. Harrison holds a sword, and Tecumseh holds a tomahawk. TIM: Harrison refused to give the land back; he wanted Indiana to become a state, which meant it needed thousands of white settlers. But he realized that he was up against a remarkable leader, and that statehood wouldn't happen with Tecumseh in the way. He decided to force Tecumseh's group to surrender by marching more than a thousand soldiers to a camp just outside Prophetstown. An animation shows Harrison marching his troops as Tim describes. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Actually, Tecumseh was away at the time, gathering new recruits from Indian nations in the South. He left his brother in charge, and on November 7, 1811, the Prophet launched an attack. It was a bad idea. The Indians wound up losing the Battle of Tippecanoe, and Harrison's army burned Prophetstown to the ground. An image shows the Battle of Tippecanoe. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Nope. Tecumseh still refused to give in. The War of 1812 soon broke out between America and Great Britain, and Tecumseh and his warriors joined the British side. He thought that if the British won, the Indians might get their land back. An image shows Tecumseh shaking hands with a British general. TIM: In August, 1812, he and his men helped the British capture the city of Detroit. But a year later, Tecumseh and the British had to retreat into Canada. They were pursued by none other than Henry Harrison. And on October 5th, 1813, the two sides met at the Battle of the Thames. Harrison's army outnumbered the British three-to-one, and the Redcoats all surrendered or ran away right after the Americans attacked. Tecumseh and a few hundred of his men were left to fight for themselves. An animation shows the Battle of the Thames. The British soldiers disappear, leaving Tecumseh and the Indians to fight Harrison. TIM: They battled bravely, but lost, and Tecumseh was killed during the fighting. An image shows Tecumseh being shot during the battle. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, the members of his confederacy all surrendered. No other leader could unify the Indians east of the Mississippi, so over the next few decades, white Americans settled the land without too much resistance. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Definitely. Tecumseh has gone down in history as one of the most remarkable Americans who ever lived. Anyway, can you guys retreat now? I've got to do my homework. Tim looks over at his bed. Moby's robot soldiers have built a fort from the pillows there. A cardboard sign reads: Fort 01110101 (Fort U). ROBOTS: Beep. Beep. TIM: A fort? Aw, come on. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts